In a massive show of power and future earnings, Yahoo has won the UK rights to show online highlights of the Premier League for the next three seasons. Virgin Media, the former online rights holders, will end their three year partnership with the Premier League when Yahoo takes over. 

The 5-minute highlights of matches will be available starting in August, 2010 and will be available online at midnight each Sunday. Another key factor in Yahoo’s acquisition, is that they’ll also be able to sell on rights to other online providers, thus allowing their earnings and revenue to increase.

This move is sure to increase the involvment and power of Yahoo as they constantly strive to compete with Google. In the US, Yahoo has already made similar deals with success where US fans can view highlights of the PGA, NHL and NBA.

Over the next few months, I’ll be interested in seeing who else Yahoo sells online rights to as third parties in the UK and elsewhere. The influx of some of the biggest companies in the world as advertisers are sure to splash cash upon Yahoo to gain a spot near the highly viewed Premier League highlights, and are sure to line the pockets of Yahoo suits and make them a force to be reckoned with in the online sports world.

Chief Executive of the Premier League Richard Scudamore added, “The way fans access Barclays Premier League action is growing ever more diverse and sophisticated. The online highlights package is an important medium for supporters of all our clubs to be able to follow match action”.

Note to US readers of EPL Talk -

As of press time, this news doesn’t seem to effect any US rights of online Premier League highlights. As always, check back with EPL Talk for all the news and analysis of Premier League television and online coverage.

So, what are your thoughts on Yahoo gaining the exlusive Premier League online UK rights? Is there anything specific you want or don’t want to see in August?

While watching Tottenham Hotspur against Blackburn Rovers in glorious HD this past Saturday, my mind began to think about how the soccer TV watching experience could be improved. Yes, we’ve come so far in the past couple of decades in terms of all of the technology that has brought the beautiful game into our living rooms, but soccer fans like myself still want more.

The popularity of the Premier League has skyrocketed worldwide because of the accessibility of the games on television. It has helped that the league is English speaking and entertaining to watch. And although Premier League executives may not admit it, the icing on the cake for the most popular sports league in the world has been the proliferation of the Internet, which has made the Premier League even more popular and even more accessible.

But you’ve seen nothing yet. Even with more games and TV networks transmitting in HD, there is a next wave of TV watching experience which will transform the way you watch the sport. Imagine a completely interactive experience while watching your favorite team play on television. What if you could interact with the TV set, if you wanted to, and pull up the latest statistics without ruining the pleasure of watching the game?

It’s possible and the technology is here. And it could soon be available for the Premier League. Here’s how:

The year twenty ten is going to be massive for interactive television as tech companies and TV manufacturers find new and useful ways to marry the best of the Internet with the latest advances in TV hardware.

One of the big advances in twenty ten will be the adoption of widgets which can be downloaded and integrated into your TV watching experience. Imagine being able to move your remote control to the bottom of the screen to have a menu appear. But the menu doesn’t interrupt the game that’s on screen.

The question is what type of information would you pull up while the game was going on? Here are my ideas for the different types of TV widgets or features of the TV widget:

1. Being able to select a widget to show who’s playing in which positions as the game progresses; the widget would be intuitive enough to update throughout the game if positions are changed mid-game,
2. Historical statistics for each player,
3. Current number of fantasy points each player has during the game,
4. Real-time league table based on all of the live scores,
5. Live scores from around the leagues,
6. Attendance number for the game as well as average attendance season-to-date,
7. Number of trophies each team has won,
8. Fixture list for each team for next few matches,
9. Current formation each team is playing,
10. Latest betting odds for the game,

• Bonus: In game stats such as shots on goal, number of completed passes, etc.

While the above features don’t currently exist in widget form, not that I’m aware of anyway, they can be programmed by anyone and made available through several different TV sets as well as Yahoo Connected TV.

All you need to play widgets is a compatible television, an Internet connection and a remote control to bring the web to your TV set.

The only major obstacles I see are who will create and maintain the information that the widgets pull from. And how involved would the Premier League be in protecting its licensed information. Unfortunately if we wait for the Premier League to launch their own branded TV widgets, it’ll be time for the 2014 World Cup. But luckily there are a lot of smart people out there who will undoubtedly look at ways of programming these widgets and making them available to the public.

In the video introduction at the top of the post, you can already see that BetFair has its own TV widget. It’s only a matter of time before more soccer widgets are built to revolutionize the Premier League TV viewing experience.

The technology is already here. We just need the widgets to be built and people like us to adopt the technology.

What do you think of TV widgets, would you use them and which TV widgets are missing from the above list that you would love to see?

It’s a really busy but exciting time in the Premier League right now, and the same is true at EPL Talk HQ — where Hurricane Fay, now Tropical Storm Fay, is bringing a ton of rain, wind and tornadoes on us.

While we’re trying to stay dry and safe, there’s a few important updates I’d like to make you aware of:

1. BBC World News Interview. I’m scheduled to be interviewed by BBC World News at 12:45pm GMT/8:45am ET/1:45pm UK time tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20. I’ll be featured on a show called “My Games,” where the topic of discussion will be how to spot future Olympic stars. I’ll be interviewed by Adnan Nawaz. More information about BBC World News can be found here. The TV news channel is carried around the world but is typically hard to find on U.S. satellite and cable providers.
2. Yahoo Buzz. At the foot of each article, you’ll see a new button labeled ‘Buzz up!’ It’s a relatively new feature from Yahoo and works very similarly to Digg which is where they copied the idea from. If you enjoy reading the articles at EPL Talk, please click on the ‘Buzz up!’ buttons so the EPL Talk stories can go up the charts at Yahoo Buzz.
3. Setanta Sports. The Irish broadcaster has added a new feature to its website where football fans can share their opinions by uploading videos that are 90 seconds or less. I’ve posted the first one here. As a way to encourage you to post a video, the next person who gets their video published on that page will receive a choice of one of two books: “Love & Blood” by Jamie Trecker or “Bloody Confused” by Chuck Culpepper. Post your video today at http://www.bubbletestimonial.com/profile.php?id=91671375
4. New Footer. It’s usually pretty difficult to get excited about a footer, but the new one that we’ve added near the bottom of this page features all of the different categories of topics that we cover at EPL Talk. Here’s a really useful way of seeing what articles we have. Just click on any of the links to find articles pertaining to that topic.
5. New Milestone. A couple of weeks ago, EPL Talk published its 2,000th article. Three thousand here we come!